(East-West Question) Auspicious: How can Tang poetry and Song poetry help build a "bridge of souls" between China and the West?
China News Agency, Beijing, April 20th: Auspicious: How can Tang poetry and Song poetry help build a "bridge of souls" between China and the West?
Author Sun Chenhui Shi Yuanfeng
The World Health Organization pointed out in 2021 that the emergence of mental health problems is "a devastating mark" left by countries in the arduous fight against the epidemic.
Another study shows that people living in war-torn environments are five times more likely to suffer from mental illness.
In the face of wars, epidemics, air disasters, unemployment, etc., how should human beings maintain their mental health?
How can psychological counselors use "mind reading" to help counselors with different cultural backgrounds build trust and heal their souls?
How can Chinese culture help build the "Bridge of Souls" between China and the West?
Recently, Chinese-American psychological counselor Jixiang accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Dongxi Wen" to explore the recipe for building a "bridge of souls" between China and the West.
The following is the interview transcript:
China News Agency reporter: As a Chinese psychological counselor, how do you win the trust of Western counselors? What are the strengths and challenges of Chinese identity?
Auspicious:
The quality of overseas Chinese is generally high, and they are relatively high-quality production resources, which are usually of considerable importance to the economic development and scientific and technological progress of the host country.
More and more overseas Chinese are recognized by the people living in the country with their professional abilities.
For psychologists, Chinese identity is both a challenge and an advantage.
In order to gain the trust of counselors from different cultural backgrounds, psychological counselors need to have stronger professional ability and empathy ability.
Most Asian immigrants living in foreign countries will trust Chinese psychological counselors more.
These people tend to be more sensitive to identity issues and more receptive to the advice of Chinese-American counselors.
China News Service reporter: Do you use Chinese culture in your work? What role did it play?
Auspicious:
An American consultant once described me as saying that you are like a knife that can directly "pierce" into the deepest part of my soul, and then follow the opening to continue to fully understand.
Psychologists need to understand more meaning behind the language from the limited expressions of the counselor.
Being able to understand the pain in the other person's soul in a short period of time, and point out psychological problems in a straight-forward manner, has a lot to do with my love of ancient Chinese poetry since I was a child.
Tang poetry and Song poetry have a profound background.
Chinese poetry is a highly condensed emotional expression, which can produce a sound effect in a silent place.
In the process of appreciating Chinese poetry, I have a richer understanding of the level of life and a deeper understanding of pain and happiness.
For example, in the poem "Crossing the Han River" written by Song Zhiwen, a poet in the early Tang Dynasty, there is a sentence "closer to hometown is more timid", which describes the complex mood of joy and timidity when a wanderer who has been away from his hometown for a long time returns to his hometown.
This is very similar to reaction formation in psychology, the concept of "overkill" in psychological defense mechanisms.
Some counselors often cannot express their true thoughts accurately, and may even contradict their words and deeds.
The study of poetry can help me enter into each other's world faster and establish contact with them.
While understanding each other, it also allows me to express my point of view more clearly and accurately.
Therefore, I never shy away from telling others about my Chinese identity. After being infiltrated with Chinese culture, I will think more deeply about the problem than my peers.
A performance that combines poetry and calligraphy culture with light, shadow and sound technology in Changsha, Hunan.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Huafeng
China News Agency reporter: What do you think are the common concepts of Chinese and Western psychological research?
Auspicious:
From a professional point of view, there is no concept of psychology in Chinese traditional culture.
However, related concepts are not only in common with Western psychology, but some are even gradually accepted and absorbed by Western psychology.
Many people use the "either-or" mentality to compare cultural differences, and this dichotomy has even spread to more fields.
In fact, blind categorization is not conducive to solving problems.
Chinese people advocate "the golden mean".
Faced with problems and contradictions, everyone must establish a sense of "respect for each other" and "equal dialogue".
From the perspective of needs, both Eastern and Western people want to be recognized, and long for a sense of belonging and security.
American social psychologists divide people's needs from the bottom of the hierarchy upwards into: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), social needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualization, which span race and class.
From the perspective of psychological research, we need to find commonalities with each other and look at "people" from a holistic perspective in order to better solve problems.
China News Agency reporter: You have been engaged in psychological counseling work in the United States for many years. Who are the American audiences you consulted? What are the similarities and differences between Chinese and American people in dealing with family issues?
Auspicious:
Most of the consultants are Kochi groups, such as lawyers, doctors, etc.
These people tend to have high social status and economic power.
Everyone faces similar family problems, but differs significantly in how they solve them.
Compared with American families, many Chinese families often wait until serious problems arise before seeking professional psychological counseling.
In addition, some families, when their children commit suicide, deep depression, etc., only think about their own problems, and unconsciously find their own reasons, and are even more reluctant to provide psychological counseling to themselves.
In recent years, more and more young Chinese couples and even couples are willing to provide psychological counseling.
More parents have established the awareness of "starting from changing themselves, and then affecting their children", and they will use professional knowledge of child psychology to raise children.
Family problems are similar, and people from different cultural backgrounds can learn from each other's best ways to deal with marriage and parenting issues from a psychological perspective.
Sunrise in advective fog.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Zhankun
China News Agency reporter: Facing audiences with different cultural backgrounds, what should Chinese psychological counselors pay attention to in their work? What experience or advice do you have?
Auspicious:
In the field of international public opinion, many immigrants will be questioned for not being able to integrate into the local mainstream culture. This kind of voice will inevitably affect the psychological changes of immigrants in all walks of life.
The daily work of Chinese psychological counselors is to deal with people. To win trust, they should first acknowledge the existence of doubts, and build the trust of counselors with different cultural backgrounds in the process of solving doubts.
First, building trust with a consultant needs to be based on ongoing open and honest communication.
This requires psychological counselors to abide by professional ethics and not to recklessly disclose or comment on the privacy of the other party.
Professional counseling should pay special attention to controlling one's own point of view, so as not to allow one's own ideas and opinions to cover the counselor.
Ask questions to elicit the power of the other party, not to be the power of the other party.
Secondly, people from different cultural backgrounds have huge differences in the way of thinking, language expression, etc., which leads to differences in the way they behave.
Some counselors from different cultural backgrounds are willing to open up and face problems head-on.
Just like the poet Li Bai's "Qiufeng Ci", which directly expresses his heart, "entering my lovesickness door, knowing that my lovesickness is bitter".
And some people "even though there are thousands of styles" do not express their feelings, and use metaphors to describe their emotions, which is similar to the rhetoric in ancient Chinese poetry that uses specific locations to symbolize the destination of the soul.
Psychologists can learn the essence of Chinese poetry culture, enrich their cognition of emotions, and find the "good medicine" to soothe each other in a richer material library.
Third, the study believes that Chinese culture is a high-context communication, while American culture belongs to a lower-level contextual communication.
For high-context Chinese culture, the expression is more subtle.
As a psychologist who is familiar with the language, culture and habits of both China and the country where you live, you must learn to find the common problems of counselors from different cultural backgrounds, and turn disadvantages into advantages.
Cursive writing based on Li Bai's poetry.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Bo
China News Service reporter: Based on your experience, how should people break through cultural barriers and bridge the barriers to cross-cultural communication?
Auspicious:
In the process of erasing the boundaries between each other, it is necessary to transform the mind.
In fact, the process of seeking consensus is the process of reaching mutual benefit.
The extreme thoughts and closed "self-healing" behaviors of either party may bring about bottlenecks in knowledge and cause the rupture of communication between them.
The beauty of He Soup lies in the harmony of differences.
While acknowledging the differences between different cultures, we must rationally understand the relationship between different cultures, deepen mutual understanding, and communicate with the mentality that "the content expressed by language and culture ultimately belongs to the human world".
Faced with people of different races and skin colors, we must remind ourselves: we all live in a global village, find common ground in our psychological and physical needs, and work in the same direction on the commonality of people. Only then can we establish cross-cultural "communication". bridge".
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Jixiang, American psychologist, CEO of Xinge Psychology Studio, founder of Jixiang Teacher's Parents Classroom, won the 2016 FIRN American Successful Person of the Year Award, invited foreign experts and lecturers at Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China, and a special lecturer at the Maryland Department of Education. Invited expert lecturers on parenting education and specially invited expert lecturers from the University of Maryland CSSA, as representatives of the "Handbook of Family Anxiety Emotions".
So far, Jixiang has provided nearly 30,000 hours of counseling to more than 20,000 families in China and the United States.